The Beiderbecke Trilogy

The Beiderbecke Trilogy
Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinburne, played by James Bolam and Barbara Flynn
Genre	Comedy drama
Developed by	Alan Plater
Starring	James Bolam Barbara Flynn Dudley Sutton Keith Smith
Theme music composer	Frankie Trumbauer and Chauncey Morehouse
Opening theme	"Cryin' All Day"
Ending theme	"Cryin' All Day"
Country of origin	UK
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producer(s)	Yorkshire Television David Cunliffe (Affair, Tapes) Keith Richardson (Connection)
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	PAL 576i
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	6 January 1985 – 18 December 1988
Chronology
Related shows	Get Lost!

The Beiderbecke Trilogy refers to three television serials written by Alan Plater and made by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network in the United Kingdom between 1984 and 1988. Each serial centres on schoolteachers Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn) who work at a rundown comprehensive school in Leeds. Woodwork teacher Trevor enjoys football and jazz music while English teacher Jill is a political activist concerned with saving the environment.

In each of the three serials – The Beiderbecke Affair, The Beiderbecke Tapes and The Beiderbecke Connection – Jill and Trevor inadvertently become embroiled in a series of unlikely adventures involving such things as political corruption, nuclear waste dumping and serious fraud. In each serial, the plot rambles, moving from one seemingly unrelated event to another, all of which are eventually shown to be interconnected. However, it is the clever interplay between the characters that is the core of each these stories.

Each episode unfolds to a soundtrack of jazz music in the style of Bix Beiderbecke performed by Frank Ricotti with Kenny Baker as featured cornet soloist. Extensive use is made of leitmotifs for the various characters. Ricotti won a BAFTA award for his work on The Beiderbecke Connection.

The Beiderbecke Trilogy centres on two schoolteachers – Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn) – who teach at a comprehensive school in Leeds, in Yorkshire. Jill is a keen conservationist, interested in the environment as well as social issues. Trevor on the other hand is interested in jazz, football and snooker and has little interest in conservation. Jill being the more headstrong of the pair, often coaxes Trevor into involvement in her political activities.